It's year-end list season and though all White Lung really have in the way of eligible releases is their recent 7", 2013 has really been a breakout year for them. So we asked them what new albums they were listening to this year, and guitarist Kenny William contributed a top 10 list that shifts between dark rap, heavy punk, goth, experimental soundscapers and more. Check out the full thing below.

White Lung have done a ton of touring this year, and though their schedule is almost empty at the moment, before the year ends the Vancouver punk band will return to NYC for a stacked show at NYU's E&L Auditorium on Thursday (12/5) with Ceremony, Perfect Pussy, and Sleepies. That show is free for students and $5 at the door for the general public.

Raw punk indebted to early hardcore met with industrial noise at 538 Johnson last night (8/21), when Hoax headlined a set with Crazy Spirit, Warthog, and Pharmakon. Hoax is readying the release of an undoubtedly primitive and vicious LP, and recently dropped a pair of tracks off from the record. Check out those tracks, not to mention video of full, sweat-drenched sets from all four bands in this post, courtesy of UN:ART:IG.

Negative hardcore/raw punk band Hoax are gearing up for the release of their debut LP, featuring what will surely be a grip of all-new favorites for fans of the genre. No release date yet for the album, but you can stream "Anesthetize" and "Hide" from it below. Recommended.

UPDATE: Stream the LP in full now below

Hoax will lead off a positively stacked lineup of Crazy Spirit, Warthog and Pharmakon at 538 Johnson Wednesday night (Aug 21, more info here). Unmissable and all ages.

A packed-to-the-gills Acheron welcomed the stacked lineup of Cleveland punk crew Inmates, bloodied-Massachusetts-set Hoax, NYC favorites Warthog and Murdereron January 12, a rare showing for the Clevo crew (their last was in 2010). More pics from Acheron can be seen in their sweaty glory over at Invisible Oranges.

Chaos in Tejas has announced yet another round of bands, including The Damned, Gehenna (who play next weekend in NYC with Catharsis), Tragedy, Rotten Sound, Rival Mob, New Zealand's The Bats, Andy Stott, Power Trip, Hoax (who play NYC this weekend), Iceage (who have a new song/tour coming), Anhedonist, Akitsa, Parquet Courts and many more. Full list of names are below, which join the previously announced names like Bolt Thrower, Infest, Abigail, Integrity, Iron Lung (who play DBA soon), Final Conflict, Manilla Road, Merchandise, Milk Music, Total Control, and many many more.

The announcement comes on the same day that passes for the Austin festival, which happens May 30 - June 2, go on sale. Passes are on sale.

As mentioned, Danish punks Iceage are releasing their new album You're Nothing on February 19 via Matador and they've just revealed the first taste of that album with the new track, "Coalition," which you can download above or stream below.

The band already announced that they'll play a NYC show on January 25 at 285 Kent, which Raspberry Bulbs, Nomad, and Deformity open (tickets) and they've just revealed that the show is part of a whole tour which includes two other NYC dates. The day after the 285 Kent show, Iceage will play Home Sweet Home (1/26) (131 Chrystie St) with Pharmakon and Dream Affair. Admission for that show is $10 at the door (more info on the flyer below).

Then in April the band will do an east coast run with Vancouver punks White Lung which hits NYC on April 20 at Bowery Ballroom. Tickets for the Bowery Ballroom show are not on sale yet but you can check ticketmaster for updates. Other tour dates include support from Merchandise, Milk Music, Hoax, and more. All dates are listed below.

White Lung released one of the greatest punk records of 2012 with Sorry and towards the end of the year they released a 7" for their European tour with two new songs, "Two of You" and "Hunting Holiday." You can stream both of those below.

After teasing us with a promise of an "international punk and hardcore" fest in NYC, organizers have announced New York's Alright 2013. The festival will happen April 18 - 21 in NYC and will feature everything from local favorites like Perdition, Goosebumps, Crazy Spirit, Dawn of Humans, Hank Wood & The Hammerheads, to names like Double Negative, Culo, Who Killed Spikey Jacket?, Stagnation, The Rival Mob, Hoax, and many many more. Full lineup announcement is below, individual show lineups and venues are still TBA.

Freelance writer and DJ Maria Sherman gave us a list of her favorites of 2012, including top shows and her favorite label. Check out her list below.

On that list is Merchandise's performance at 538 Johnson, one of the few early performances to feature now-permanent drummer Elsner Nino (also of Shoxx). The new-look Merchandise will perform twice at 285 Kent this week, including tonight's show WITH Night Sins, Pharmakon, Herzog Rising AND Shoxx.

Maria Sherman's Best of 2012 and a video of Merchandise from 538 Johnson earlier this year, below...

2012 was a year of considerable personal growth for me, as a person, a photographer and a music fan. As I recounted in my favorite photos of 2012, I got to shoot some of my favorite bands of all time and travel the globe in search of new ones. The beginning of the year was spent dealing with personal drama, and if it werent for key records in my life I shudder to think at where I would be right now. To every band on this list and many who aren't, I cant thank you enough.

First order of business, my musical pallette is much much larger than just a series of metal records. This is NOT a list of my favorite records of the year, because that would surely include other entries from across many different genres. This is, however, a list of some of my favorite heavier records.

To me, the term "heavy" can be defined in many ways, from the elongated riff on a doom record to a noise squall to a particularly punishing punk-rock beatdown. While most of the following records are "heavy" in the traditional "distortion and loud guitars" sense, a few are not. You'll see metal, you'll see deathrock, you'll see raw punk, you'll see hardcore, and many spots in between in the numbered list below. And to answer your question, yes you'll see Swans... right beside D-Clone and Asphyx.

My favorite records of 2012 are below. Hopefully you'll see a connection in favorites or maybe discover something new. Regardless, I hope you found your own favorites of the year whether in this list or outside of it.

Christopher Hansell of Warthog (ex-The Men) has dropped off his top 10 releases of 2012, as well as other thoughts on the passing year. Check out those below.

Warthog (which also features members of Nude Beach) is scheduled to play Worcester, MA at The Beacon on 12/15 with Who Killed Spikey Jacket, in addition to their previously discussed show with Inmates at Acheron on 1/12.

Hansell is also involved in power electronics crew Foreplay who will play the West Coast later this month with the great Pharmakon and Soren (of Rosenkopf). Dates are below. Soren will also play NYC at Saint Vitus on 1/5 as part of the Dysrhythmia/Wreck & Reference show (tickets).

Andy Nelson of Ceremony / Paint it Black took time out from his string of dates with Titus Andronicus (which included Webster Hall this past weekend) to fork over his favorite records of 2012. Andy actually gave us two lists -- favorite LPs and EPs/singles. They include Frank Ocean, Merchandise, Savages, Julia Holter and... well see for yourself. His lists are below.

Brutal Cleveland hardcore crew Inmates (mem Integrity, Keelhaul) will return to NYC to play a show with punishing MA crew Hoax (who have a new video), NYC favorites Warthog, and Murderer. January 12 at Acheron, so save the date. With that insane lineup, the show promises to be pretty mental, possibly as crazy as the band's appearances with Systematic Death in 2010. Don't sleep.

Head below for a stream of 2007's Assholes Unanimous Presents... in full alongside the new Hoax video.

The brutal punk assault of Massachusetts's Hoax gets a video treatment for "Fantasy," which appeared on their recent 7" via Painkiller Records. Just as anti-social as the band itself, check out the fetish-laden video below. Not for the squeamish.

In other Power of the Riff news, look for the latest installment to go down on 12/20/12 in Los Angeles at Henry Fonda Theater. There the band will be joined by High on Fire (who play NYC twice this month), sunn o))), Corrosion of Conformity, Black Breath, Dead in the Dirt, Loincloth and Void ov Voices. Tickets are still available for this whopper of a show.

In addition to the Bad Powers/Sannhet/The Year is Oneshow at Saint Vitus and Krallice/Mutant Supremacy/Feast of The Epiphany show at Acheron tonight (9/21), the great Drugs of Faith will take to the stages of Tobacco Road with Drones for Queens, Spirit of Saint Louis and Mother Brain.

Deiphago will team with Manticore, Abazagorath, Trenchgrinder and Infiltrator for a show at Acheron on November 17. The show is the end of the line for their US tour, though full schedule is still on the way.

Saturday built upward from Alpha & Omega and Xibalba, young hardcore bands from California; the crowd endured Hoax, from western Massachusetts, a band with only a couple of EPs, whose volatile singer came down from the stage to the floor, inviting physical aggression and getting it. And the lineup worked toward the clomping meat-and-potatoes, early-'80s hardcore of Negative Approach -- established in Detroit 1981, reformed in 2006 -- and Agnostic Front, established in 1980, reformed in 1997, from New York and don't you forget it.

Agnostic Front's set was the hometown party: beefy guys from the old days at CBGB came out to support the band as it played uniformly streamlined versions of songs from the ratty old records "United Blood," "Victim in Pain" and "Cause for Alarm," responding to calls for circular mosh pits, pumping their fists to the generalized anti-authority chants: "We gotta stick together/and fight 'em all now!" And then many of them cleared out, leaving a sparser crowd for Pentagram, the early doom-metal band from Virginia whose prematurely ancient singer, Bobby Liebling, persists with effort. -[NY Times]

Bad news first.... Poison Idea have in fact cancelled their appearance at Power Of The Riff East and all East Coast dates due to medical-related issues. Bummer.

Now the good... fortunately, we have added one of the best bands in punk/hardcore right now in their stead.... Hoax! The brutal Massachusetts crew will now join Pentagram, Negative Approach, Agnostic Front and many others on that Saturday, September 1 at Warsaw, the first of two days at the venue. Tickets are on sale for Sat and Sun (now with a free screened poster for the event), OR you can purchase the newly released set of two-day passes that come with a free Southern Lord vinyl pack that contains an LP or 7" and various other SL offerings.

Head below for some Hoax material, and video of this notoriously violent band live.

Bad news first.... Poison Idea have in fact cancelled their appearance at Power Of The Riff East and all East Coast dates due to medical-related issues. Bummer.

Now the good... fortunately, we have added one of the best bands in punk/hardcore right now in their stead.... Hoax! The brutal Massachusetts crew will now join Pentagram, Negative Approach, Agnostic Front and many others on that Saturday, September 1 at Warsaw, the first of two days at the venue. Tickets are on sale for Sat and Sun (now with a free screened poster for the event), OR you can purchase the newly released set of two-day passes that come with a free Southern Lord vinyl pack that contains an LP or 7" and various other SL offerings.

Head below for some Hoax material, and video of this notoriously violent band live.

The Power of The Riff's West Coast edition expands further with some notable new bands today. In addition to the previously discussed appearances from OFF!, Dr. Know, Repulsion, Noothgrush and others, the Los Angeles festival has added sunn O))) (who plays the East Coast edition as well), Hoax, Despise You (who played NYC last year), Nausea from California (who played Maryland Deathfest this year) and Bio Crisis. Tickets are on sale for the August 11th show at Echo/Echoplex in Los Angeles.

While we're riffing, tickets are on sale now for the POTR East which happens September 1 and 2 at Warsaw in Brooklyn. Get tickets for September 1 HERE (with Pentagram, new addition Agnostic Front, Poison Idea, Negative Approach and more), for September 2 HERE (with sunn O))), Repulsion, and new additions Double Negative and Coffinworm) and for both days HERE.

The Power of The Riff's West Coast edition expands further with some notable new bands today. In addition to the previously discussed appearances from OFF!, Dr. Know, Repulsion, Noothgrush and others, the Los Angeles festival has added sunn O))) (who plays the East Coast edition as well), Hoax, Despise You (who played NYC last year), Nausea from California (who played Maryland Deathfest this year) and Bio Crisis. Tickets are on sale for the August 11th show at Echo/Echoplex in Los Angeles.

While we're riffing, tickets are on sale now for the POTR East which happens September 1 and 2 at Warsaw in Brooklyn. Get tickets for September 1 HERE (with Pentagram, new addition Agnostic Front, Poison Idea, Negative Approach and more), for September 2 HERE (with sunn O))), Repulsion, and new additions Double Negative and Coffinworm) and for both days HERE.

It's exciting to see the hyper-violent and uber-pissed Massachusetts hardcore band Hoax absolutely exploding on the strength of their incendiary live show. The band, who recently sold out a new EP via Youth Attack and is preparing to release another via Painkiller, have graduated from supporting role (at 538 Johnson on Easter Sunday) to leading men with Thursday's show at 285 Kent (5/17) where they'll team with Sewn Leather, Hank & the Hammerheads and 2 Ton Bug. $7 gets you into this all ages show.

The show is a tour kick-off for Hoax and Sewn Leather who will also stop at Chaos in Tejas where they'll cross paths with Hank Wood & The Hammerheads. Look for tour-only flexis at the merch table. The tour flyer, and video of the band in action at LPR and 538 Johnson, below.

The previously discussedHorna show on the June 6th at Saint Vitus is one of TWO at the venue, with the second (actually first) going down on June 2nd. Kommandant are on board for both nights, with Abazagorath and Woe on board for June 2nd and Mutilation Rites and Mortum hitting the June 6th show (the prior is celebrating a new LP). Tickets for both June 2ndand June 6th are still available. Kommandant will ALSO play Saint Vitus on 5/22, this time with Sweden's Demonical as part of a string of dates for the band. Tickets are on sale, and all Demonical and Horna dates are listed below.

Baltimore punks Deep Sleep are on the road starting next week, and will play on 4/23 at Black Light in New Brunswick NJ with Real Cops, Radio Exiles, Easy Rider and Attitude Era. Unfortunately no NYC dates in this go-around, but you can check out some of their other dates below.

Supporting acts for the Negura Bunget show at Cameo on 4/20 have changed. The band will now be joined by Din Brad (side project of Negura Bunget's keyboardist), Inia Dina, and Heathen. Tickets are still available.

Spazzy noise-core Frenchmen Escarres will team with Hessian and Only Child for a show at Acheron TONIGHT (4/13). Stream some Escarres material below.

Stream tracks from the new Mammoth Grinder 7", video from that Veins/Hoax/Raw Nerve show with all previously mentioned streams and dates, and this week's list of suggested shows. below. What did I miss?

Punk rock crew Kim Phuc will team with Family Curse and Herzog Rising to play Death By Audio on April 7th. The show is one of a few notable and recently added shows at the space, including April 14th with White Suns (who have a new LP on Load, stream a song below), Pop 1280, and Richard, April 28th with Dysrhythmia, Kayo Dot & Vaura, and 4/29 with a mystery guest, Child Abuse, Behold...The Arctopus and PAK.

Youth Attack have updated their site with orders for the new SalvationHouse of the Beating Hell EP, new second Hoax EP, a new ARTS LP Thousand Wounds of War, and so much more. Head to their site for more details (I recommend the Hoax, ARTS and Salvation records).

More suggested shows, a stream of a new Horseback song, the Split Cranium LP (with Aaron of Isis and members of Circle) a 16 song, an Author & Punisher song, a White Suns song and more is below. What did I miss?

D-Clone and their "wall of noise" are hitting the East Coast for a string of dates in October. So far the entire itinerary hasn't surfaced, but the band will join Zatsuon, Sad Boys, Dead Reich and two more TBA for a show at Acheron on October 6th. Not to be missed.

As previously discussed, Ceremony headlined Le Poisson Rouge on 2/4 with a staggering lineup of support from Pissed Jeans, Rival Mob, Kim Phuc, Hoax, and Gods & Queens. Pictures and video from this show adorn this post.

Ceremony also swung by WNYU to play a live set as part of The New Afternoon Show. Stream that appearance in its entirety at WNYU.

In the wake of their sold-out mega show at LPR, Ceremony have announced a US tour in support of their forthcoming effort Zoo due on Matador. The dates do not include an NYC date so far, but will stop in Austin for SXSW at Red 7 on March 17th. More details are forthcoming, but tour dates are below.

As discussed, Ceremony played a packed out LPR with Rival Mob, Hoax, Kim Phuc (who also played a late show) and Gods & Queens. Pictures from the show are on the way but until then, check out video below.

In related news, the great Hoax will also join on another upcoming NYC bill, this time with the mighty Veins and Raw Nerve, as well as Chain Wallet at 538 Johnson on April 8th. More details are available at the Facebook event page. The band, who will release a new EP via Youth Attack this year, will prepare for an upcoming tour with SQRM in the coming days and will play Chaos in Tejas this year.